The torch's global journey was supposed to highlight China's growing economic and political power. But activists opposing China's human rights policies and a recent crackdown on Tibet have been protesting along the torch's 85,000-mile route since the start of the flame's odyssey from Ancient Olympia in Greece to Beijing, host of the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Violence in Tibet won't hurt the country's Shangri-La image, according to the Guardian.

"Actually, there was always a kind of fantasy element to the way a lot of outsiders have viewed the Tibetan movement," said Robbie Barnett, a Tibet specialist at Columbia University.

"In a terrible and tragic way, this actually does say, hey, we're not dealing with monks who can't meditate, this is a really serious social and historical issue that has to be dealt with politically," he said.